Boone Chronicles | An inner adventure — Part I
I reached the airport, only to realize I had double booked my name on my ticket and my wife’s. And with one hour to go for the flight and bags to check in, I had to pull all the tricks in my sleeve to get things sorted and make the flight. We finally did make it with the gate closing behind me 5 minutes later. Whew!! What a start! The adventure had just begun! I was off to Boone — Heading to a magical little place nestled in the Whispering Hills — The Art of Living Retreat Center.
One of the beautiful things about spending time at a spiritual retreat center is the energy and positivity that the place exudes. It is that time of the year, when people from all over the world gather together — To celebrate, to grow, to hangout, to rejuvenate, to make memories and introspect in the quiet of the winter.
We were greeted by thick snow as we drove into the retreat center. When enjoying the beauty of the raw winter landscape becomes impractical due to freezing temperatures, it is time to go within to settle down the mind and enjoy the inner stillness. That’s what we were up to at the retreat center!
No Pain, No Gain!
Day 1 was the start of the Holistic Health Retreat — An Ayurvedic themed retreat that had a lots of treats in store for us with Yoga, Ayurvedic techniques and recipes for long-lasting health and tons of good food. We didn’t need a Santa Claus to provide for our goodies, come Christmas this year — The retreat was full of treats and surprises — especially the yoga!
“Stretch your legs hip wide and using your right hand, push the wall to your right. Keep breathing and stretching. Oh no — The wall doesn’t exist, it is imaginary! Now let’s move on to our left side….”
This was just a sampler of how the yogic postures were beautifully interlaced with humor and wisdom, leaving the 800 odd audience in the main meditation hall in splits! What an amazing way to start the day at the crack of sunrise! Or sample this one — “Did that stretch pain a little? No pain, no gain”, crooned Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (a world renowned humanitarian and spiritual leader who was facilitating the retreat), again leading to 100 decibels of rip-rocking laughter echoing in the hall.
The audience were not new to wisdom — But the combination of yoga, humor and wisdom was tough to beat! And we were getting a lot of it! Every minute, we were not just laughing, but being reminded of the deep truths in life. Yes, life is sometimes painful, but it’s through our toughest moments, that we actually grow, become stronger and wiser. That’s what Sri Sri was alluding to through his passing remark!
Meditative stillness
A meditative stillness pervades this place. I remember walking into the main meditation hall for yoga today morning. As I stepped in, I just turned around to have a beautiful sunrise freeze my mind into silence. The very same mind of mine, that doesn’t let a chance go by at cracking silly jokes like: “What do you call it when a group of people keep having car troubles on a road trip?” — carma (karma) — That very same mind, seamlessly and effortlessly got moved into stillness looking at the beautiful light show in the sky.
This stillness is a quality of this place. Sometimes, you walk into a room that had a lot of arguments and you feel uncomfortable being there. This is the opposite of that — I have a feeling of being at home, every moment I am here. Maybe it’s the mountains, the vastness of space you get to experience here, or maybe its the fact that everyone at this retreat center have invested time and energy into finding meaning and purpose to their lives.
Or maybe it’s the smiling faces I see every day, basking in the gratitude of a true vacation, a home away from home, some time off to spend with the inspirational guru of joy, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Or maybe it’s all of this put together! One thing I have noticed that is universally true through my 5 days of stay so far is that — People love to hang around Sri Sri — As he is one person I know, who seems genuinely interested in seeing people happy and fulfilled — And it comes naturally to him — As he just simply, radiates happiness!
Being mid-way through my stay at the retreat center — I sure have many more things to share on my experiences so far and experiences to come. Stay tuned to learn about the Holistic Health Retreat Experience and more in part 2 of this series!